India Trip Dispatch 1: There are Places I Don’t Remember

I am back in India after more than a decade, just landed here this morning.  My mind is still in a fog from the jet lag and the sweltering May weather in Mumbai is not much help.  It is 90 degrees right now but feels like 99 because of the humidity.  The humidity surrounds you like a fog right from the time you step out of the airplane.  

My plane landed after midnight  this morning and in my cranky sleepless state it seemed like an eternity before I reached the Immigration counter.  It was huge and staffed with enough people that the waiting times were minimal. It took me less than ten minutes to get my passport stamped.   Quite a change from the pit of hell experience on my earlier trips.  Clearing the Customs was a breeze as well.  Indian bureaucracy’s efficiency has actually improved, will wonders never cease?

Every one loves to complain about the TSA but of all three nationalities I encountered on this trip they were the most courteous and friendly. The Brits were efficient but unsmiling and India gets the prize for the most improved.  The least fun part of the journey was the layover in London.  It was like waiting in a dungeon with spendy shops.  Four hours seem like forty when you have zero sleep.

The drive from the airport to South Bombay was pleasant, unlike the drive to the Logan airport in Boston.  I am sure that it was 2 a.m. in the morning had a lot to do with it. The new Sea Link bridge is impressive. 

 

Credit: Wikipedia

The other  highlight of my day was a home cooked meal with fresh shrimp, rawas,freshly made chapattis and stir fried cauliflower with cumin and mustard seeds, worth every minute spent in the spendy dungeon says I.